Weekly Legislative Update
March 11, 2024

Overtime Rule Sent to OIRA for Final Review

On March 1, the Wage and Hour Division sent its final overtime rule to OIRA for review. Review can take anywhere from a couple weeks to several months.

The text of the final rule is not yet public, so the details, including the minimum salary threshold and timeframe for compliance, are not yet known.

?Interested stakeholders may request a meeting with OIRA to discuss their concerns but should do so quickly to get in before review is complete. 

Congressman Eric Burlison (R-MO-07) introduced the Overtime Pay Flexibility Act, which will prevent a newly proposed rule from the Biden Administration entitled Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees from taking effect.

“It’s essential that we support American companies and workers and protect them from the unnecessary federal government mandates. The Biden Administration’s policies continually stifle growth with its “one-size-fits all” approach. The Overtime Pay Flexibility Act would ensure that businesses can manage overtime compensation in a way that benefits both the business and employees,” said Rep. Burlison.

“When the government wages a war against American businesses, it inevitably hurts workers. Democrats love to sell a dream to workers, but in the end their agenda against the free market only harms the people they claim so vocally to support.”

BACKGROUND:

The Biden Administration's Department of Labor (DOL) proposed rule entitled Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees imposes significant regulatory compliance burdens and higher costs on businesses while also limiting workplace flexibility for employees.

The proposed rule, if finalized, would increase the salary threshold from approximately $35K to $55K annually under which employers are compelled to pay time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours per week, under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2019 the DOL under President Trump appropriately finalized a rule in which the salary threshold was raised, but only after extensive buy-in from stakeholders. A new rule coming less than four years after the prior increase is unnecessary and irresponsible and will lead to harm felt by millions of American workers and businesses.

Click here to read the bill text.

TIA Sends Letter to Congress Supporting the Overtime Pay Flexibility Act

Dear Members of the House of Representatives:

TIA urges your support of H.R.7367, the Overtime Pay Flexibility Act, which would prohibit the Department of Labor (“DOL”) from finalizing, implementing, or enforcing its proposed rule titled “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees,” published in the Federal Register on September 8, 2023 (“Proposed Rule”).

This legislation, introduced by Representative Burlison, would protect workers, employers, and the economy from this ill-considered and ill-advised regulation while preserving DOL’s authority to make future adjustments to the overtime rules as appropriate.

TIA members believe that employees and employers alike are best served with a system that promotes maximum flexibility in structuring employee hours, employees’ career advancement opportunities, and clarity for employers when classifying employees.

If allowed to be finalized, DOL’s Proposed Rule will dramatically and negatively impact businesses, nonprofits, colleges and universities, states, cities, towns, and public schools as well as the workers they employ and the consumers, students, and people they serve.

The Proposed Rule would force the reclassification of millions of employees from salaried to hourly. This change means these employees will lose access to critical benefits, their hard-fought status in the workplace, opportunities for career advancement, flexible work arrangements, and potentially their jobs entirely. 

These consequences will be disproportionally borne by entry level workers, particularly those from rural and economically struggling areas or those graduating with degrees that do not traditionally command high salaries.

Moreover, the costs and organizational changes required to comply with the Proposed Rule could immediately destabilize an economy that is still vulnerable following the COVID-19 pandemic, and DOL has failed to provide any evidence that current regulations, which were last updated only four years ago, are insufficient in protecting American workers.

The employer community has repeatedly cautioned DOL about the real-world consequences of its proposed changes to the overtime regulations, but these concerns have been ignored.

The Overtime Pay Flexibility Act would force DOL to abandon its misguided Proposed Rule, safeguarding the American economy from its disastrous repercussions, protecting workers’ jobs, benefits, and future career growth, and shielding American businesses in all sectors from the administrative costs and burdens of the Proposed Rule.

Meanwhile, the bill preserves DOL’s authority to make future adjustments to the overtime rules as appropriate. If the Department decides to move forward with a rule in the immediate future, it will need to initiate a new rulemaking process. 

TIA urges Members of the House of Representatives to support this legislation.

We urge Congress to force DOL to abandon this dangerous proposal and go back to the drawing board for any changes it wishes to make to the overtime pay regulations.